Daily Archives: February 4, 2010

I’m sure there’s an interesting story to be told today about lobbyists gaining access to the Commons by MPs hiring out rooms to entertain them. The authorities have released the full list of “banqueting office functions” booked from 2004 to 2009. (To be fair many of the guests are charities etc) Read more

If you want proof of disagreement between Legg and Kennedy here it is. I won’t go into the details of Peter Lilley’s mortgage claims – too complex. But Kennedy has struck off the entire £41k claim, saying:

“I am at a loss to understand why the review should state that what you did was not permitted under the ACA.”

When Legg first started seving MPs with big bills, one of the big complaints was over the “arbitrary” limit he put on cleaning expenses. One MP told the Guardian: “If you employ a cleaner for five to six hours a week, pay a decent wage and pay national insurance, there are consequences.”

Well, as this excellent graph in the Legg report shows, 93 per cent of MPs managed to keep their cleaning bills below £2,000. (Not sure what that says about the cleanliness of their homes or their terms and conditions.) It is a vindication of sorts for Legg’s limit. Note the sudden fall in cleaning expenses in 2008/9 once the system began to come under serious scrutiny. Britain’s cleaning industry seems to have taken a big hit. Not sure which MP claimed £5,400 in a year. Read more

The authors

Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.

Kate Allen is a political correspondent for the FT. She joined the lobby team in October 2015, after two years as the FT's property correspondent. She previously spent a decade covering housing on various business magazines.